y civilization in this world accounts for the
devilment in it by the crimes of woman. They say woman brought all the
trouble into the world. I don't care if she did. I would rather live in
a world full of trouble with the women I love, than to live in Heaven
with nobody but men. I read in a book an account of the creation of
the world. The book I have taken pains to say was not written by any
God. And why do I say so? Because I can write a far better book
myself. Because it is full of barbarism. Several ministers in this
city have undertaken to answer me--notably those who don't believe the
Bible themselves. I want to ask these men one thing. I want them to
be fair.

Every minister in the City of Chicago that answers me, and those who
have answered me had better answer me again--I want them to say, and
without any sort of evasion--without resorting to any pious tricks--I
want them to say whether they believe that the Eternal God of this
universe ever upheld the crime of polygamy. Say it square and fair.
Don't begin to talk about that being a peculiar time, and that God was
easy on the prejudices of those old fellows. I want them to answer
that question and to answer it squarely, which they haven't done. Did
this God, which you pretend to worship, ever sanction the institution
of human slavery? Now, answer fair. Don't slide around it. Don't
begin and answer what a bad man I am, nor what a good man Moses was.
Stick to the text. Do you believe in a God that allowed a man to be
sold from his children? Do you worship such an infinite monster? And
if you do, tell your congregation whether you are not ashamed to admit
it. Let every minister who answers me again tell whether he believes
God commanded his general to kill the little dimpled babe in the
cradle. Let him answer it. Don't say that those were very bad times.
Tell whether He did it or not, and then your people will know whether
to hate that God or not. Be honest. Tell them whether that God in war
captured young maidens and turned them over to the soldiers; and then
ask the wives and sweet girls of your congregation to get down on their
knees and worship the infinite fiend that did that thing. Answer! It
is your God I am talking about, and if that is what God did, please
tell your congregation what, under the same circumstances, the devil
would have done. Don't tell your people that is a poem. Don't tell
your people that is pictorial. That won't